Easter Island
- uglybettycrew
- May 13
- 3 min read
Updated: May 14
Our voyage from Pitcairn Island to Easter Island was a fairly unremarkable 5 days, as we followed the Big Blue Bayou. Not sure if we were going to be able to stop in any of the islands along this route, we were lucky once again to have clear weather for a visit to Easter Island. In case you're wondering, Easter Island (local name "Rapa Nui") is the island with the huge statues (called Moai) that litter the island. They date back to between 1250 and 1500, built to commemorate and embody deceased ancestors & high chiefs.
We radio'd the authorities on our approach, and for the first time ever in our yachting life, we were given a Lat & Long for our anchorage. Another hugely exposed anchorage, it at least offered good holding. We were not allowed ashore until the next morning, when the multitude of officialdom came onboard to inspect us, our supplies, and our paperwork. They even bought the sniffer dog! They were all lovely people, very polite, but very serious in their work. They looked though my dried beans with suspicion and took a bag of opened chickpeas! Luckily they left the fruit and veg, although we were getting well sick of cabbage!!!
Going ashore were excited to see our first Moai's a short walk from the boat. It felt good to stretch our legs. The town there has plenty of restaurants and bars; it also has an airport, so it didn't feel remote, like Pitcairn. We hiked up to a volcano, and then rented a car so we could get an early start the next day to visit the long line of famous Moai's on the other side of the island.
Unfortunately, the next morning the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the anchorage was no longer very comfortable. Jon was not happy about all of us leaving the boat so we decided to take it in turns, with Bob and Steve going off first. As the morning progressed, the exposed anchorage became more and more uncomfortable, and we decided that we needed to leave. We got in touch with the boys, asked them to return the car and clear out of immigration for us. Immigration took so long, it was late afternoon before we saw Steve and Bob arriving in the dinghy. Now in a rough anchorage, it was with difficulty they boarded Ugly Betty; we needed to tow the dinghy to the lee of the island before lifting it on deck. We planned to spend the night at the South East corner of the island, before getting an early start the next morning.
Jon and I were disappointed not to see the famous line of Moai's, and were delighted to see them (from behind) as we reached our night-spot, just before sunset. It was a comfortable night, and with everything properly stowed, we pushed on for Chile the next day.
The final island that we had hoped to stop at, Robinson Crusoe Island (yes, there really was a man marooned there for 4 years) was tantalizingly close, but our weather window was too good to miss, so we skipped that little adventure, and pushed on for Puerto Montt, our final destination (for a while, anyway!)
In all, the Pacific crossing took 30 days. We stopped for 8 days total, with the rest being a super comfortable ride, mostly along the Big Blue Bayou. Happy day!
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